Humankind has long relied upon the art of fishing as a source of food, as evidenced by earliest recorded history and even artifacts predating recorded history. While some peoples to this day rely on fishing for survival, the bulk of the fishing industry has developed into both large-scale, commercial operations in fresh and salt water environments and domestic farming operations in controlled aquatic environments.
Separate from these fishing activities directed toward providing food for human consumption, fishing is enjoyed as an active sport by literally millions of people. Sport fishing may conveniently be divided into two types--bait fishing and artifical lure fishing. Artifical lure fishing may, in turn, be separated into two types. A first type of lure fishing employs a relatively heavy lure attached to a fish line, and the lure is advanced across the surface of the water or through the water below the surface, either by trolling or by spin-casting the lure and thereafter retrieving the lure. A second type of artificial lure fishing, called fly fishing, employs a relatively light artificial lure or "fly" and a light monofilament line with which the fly is flipped onto the surface of the water so that it may float on the surface ("dry fly") or become submerged ("wet fly"). In some cirumstances, the fly is advanced across or through the water to entice fish to strike the lure thereby becoming caught.
In fly fishing, one of the biggest challenges is presenting an artificial lure to the target fish that simulates a natural food source for the fish. In many instances, the favored food source of the fish will vary from day-to-day and, certainly, from season-to-season, primarily as a function of the naturally occurring organisms available as a diet for the fish. Naturally, the more realistic the artificial fly appears, the more likely success will follow. For this reason, a wide variety of artificial flies have been developed to simulate a broad spectrum of fish food items.
Fly fishing as a sporting enterprise first began to reach significant proportions in the early 1800's. In these early days, artifical flies were constructed out of horse hair, silk, chicken feathers, and other available items. Metal weights have been used to overcome the buoyancy of the fly. However, the techniques of tying flies, with a few exceptions, did not significantly change from the early 1800's. Rather, the primary improvement in artificial flies resided in the development of a wide variety of fly-constructing materials. One such improvement in fly-tying technique occurred with the invention of a fly-tying/braiding technique which has been referred to as the "Potts weave" which is described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,949,582 issued 6 Mar. 1934 to Francis Potts.
Even with the advancements in construction materials and the concomitant increase in the variety of flies, many flies still do not perform in a natural manner and may perform poorly in actual use. The need for natural appearance is readily understood by those versed in this art as many fish uncannily distinguish between an artificial lure and real food supply from small deviations in operational behavior. Further, once a fish takes the lure, the lure should feel similar to the actual food item it simulates. Therefore, there remains a need for improved artificial lures that more closely resemble both the appearance, action and texture of an item of food attractive to a fish.